Wallenda Walks Tightrope near Grand Canyon

On Sunday, Nik Wallenda successfully walked a tightrope of 1,400 feet that stretched across a 1,500-foot tall gorge close to the Grand Canyon.

Dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt he completed the walk on live television that carried a delay of 10 seconds just in case.

This feat took place just over a year since he crossed from the United States into Canada over the Niagara Falls on a 2-inch cable. On that crossing, unlike Sunday’s, he wore a safety harness.

Wallenda was not given permission from the government to cross the Grand Canyon, so he used a gorge located on Navajo Nation property above the Little Colorado River.

Some were upset that the Discovery Channel, which telecast the walk live, was promoting Wallenda as walking across the Grand Canyon and not the Little Colorado River Gorge.

The broadcast covered much about the Wallenda family including the tragic death of Karl Wallenda, Nik’s grandfather, who plunged to his death in Puerto Rico. The high wire family stretches back seven generations.

Wallenda prayed and gave praise to God during his walk across the gorge. The walk took over 20 minutes to complete. It went slower than anticipated due to winds of 20 mph.

While he crossed, his father spoke to him often giving him encouragement and telling him how well he was doing.

As he approached the last 50 feet, he started to run across the tightrope and then hopped off. He knelt down kissed and ground and then headed to his family.